Milanote: A Love Letter

I’m feeling a bit vulnerable here. I didn’t think I could feel such splendor over an in-browser platform geared towards creative teams before. I mean, it’s just an absolutely beautiful thing to use, especially when you’re trying to do normally daunting tasks such as brainstorming creative direction with moodboards, creating production calendars, or even mapping out user flows. It’s kind of the best thing ever irl. I’m swooning as I type this.

Whenever we work on company brands at known.creative, the first thing we do is undergo a 2-3 week Discovery phase; allowing us to work with stakeholders to nail down quintessential brand elements such as audience, tone, messaging, and visual styles. It allows us to create a nice framework from which all creative work and correspondence can refer to; ensuring that everything and everyone is on the exact same page all throughout the project until final files are submitted.* All that being said, we’ve used a variety of different tools—both online and offline—to organize and curate thoughts and ideas from discovery workshops, and while they’ve all worked for us, it always seemed like we needed to rely on 2-3 platforms to gather and organize everything. Pretty crazy if you ask me.

So imagine what it was like when I demo’d Milanote on a freelance client of mine a few months back, and saw that it had the ability to create everything from moodboards, kanban boards (think Trello), user personas, and literally everything a team like ours could need. Within an hour, I’d already created a series of moodboards and nicely curated folders with all of the Discovery notes. Whether you’re a designer, project manager, marketing strategist, or even a product manager, here are a few reasons why Milanote should be your go-to planning platform.

Using kanban boards, I organized inspiration shots from the client and quickly added notes and observations. This was about 5-10 minutes.

It’s Free

There, I said it. It’s free to use. It’ll limit your amount of posts to 100, but even then it’s enough for you to plan out even a smaller sized project or create some pretty serious user personas and user flows. The paid plan? At $10 a month, you’re talking unlimited posts and images, meaning unlimited boards for unlimited projects. That’s pretty much a Netflix subscription. So I mean, you could keep reading this? Or you can just get a membership now. Need more info? Okay, read on.

It’s Beautifully Designed. No, Seriously.

From the moment you open it up, it’s an infinite, empty canvas for you to fill. The toolbar to the left allows you to simply click and drag things like Notes, Links, or Columns. Adding images is very simple, either by uploading from your computer or simply Copy & Pasting from the internet. No crazy loading times, it appears instantly! With Boards, you’re able to group images and posts together, and even color code and/or personalize them with icons to make sure your team knows where things are. All of these things, plus the beautifully minimalistic UI design, make this a tool worth using and lovingly staring at.

One of many moodboard examples you’ll find on the site. Simply copy & paste images into the board, and it’s there. No obnoxious loading times, and definitely no crashing.

It’s Both In-Browser and Native App

The fact that it’s in-browser means that you and your team, regardless of Mac or PC users, will be able to use this tool perfectly. Marketing strategists can work with creative directors on the marketing & brand strategies, all in the same playground. Product managers can collaborate with developers & engineers to store code snippets and map out product functionality. Finally, a forum where people from different departments can truly collaborate that isn’t a dingy-ass markerboard, tired interns, and a bunch of stickies.

The fact that it also has a native app just sweetens the deal for me, especially if I have a bunch of tabs open in Chrome. I’ll find myself seamlessly updating Milanote through the native app, and if I’m off-site, I can access it in-browser on any other computer. In the same way you can pull up a Google Doc wherever you are, you can access your Milanote boards; nice and seamlessly.

“The Evernote For Creatives”

Milanote packs a solid punch for any sort of team’s efficiency and alignment. Personally speaking, it’s freed me up from going from platform to platform like some mentally-tired bumble-bee. Now with an eventual release for iOS and Android, Milanote is absolutely a solid investment for any team to stay aligned and stay productive. After all, it’s just a fun tool to use. So, uh, yeah…why are you still here? Check it out here.

*Side effects include high fives all around, a satisfied CEO, and excitement due to seeing newly printed business cards.

Written by Chris Santoro

Chris Santoro graduated from Massart in 2012 on a mission: to start a kickass design agency and make awesome brands even more awesome. Fast forward to 2017, and alongside three longtime friends, he's helped lead the visual direction and execution of beautifully designed and dynamic brands for tech start-ups and small businesses alike. With clients in Northeastern University, VELCRO, and Saucony, alongside various Boston agencies, he works fast and efficiently to help his clients meet their goals.